


girls who want other girls don't have happy endings

by makemelovely



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Canon Universe, F/F, Friendship, Girls Kissing, Girls in Love, Kissing, Love, Non-Linear Narrative, Sad Ending, Secret Relationship, Smoking, Tragedy, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-01-31 15:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12684966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makemelovely/pseuds/makemelovely
Summary: Max and Eleven hold hands under the table and grin at each other. In the bathroom after Max blows smoke ring after smoke ring, El presses a fruit-punch colored kiss against Max's lips. It stains Max's dry, chapped lips red and she is careful to wipe it away. She can't afford not to.





	girls who want other girls don't have happy endings

Max reaches over, carefully lacing Eleven's fingers with her own. El's hand is cold but the smile that slides across her lips is worth a little chill. "So, what about it?" Will smiles at Max, fiddling with a bracelet on his skinny wrist.

 

"I have to take a piss." Max stands up abruptly, wiping her hands on her jeans. She's wearing a green shirt with an oddly shaped soccer ball on it. Her jacket is black and it hides her most prized possession. Her packet of smokes. "Coming?" Max asks, running a hand through her red hair. Nobody asks who she's talking to, everybody knows she means Eleven.

"Yes." Eleven mumbles, standing up and smoothing her pretty pink dress down. She leans across the table to press a swift kiss to Mike's lips, and Max ignores the sharp sting in her heart at the sight.

Eleven follows after Max, walking behind the girl with a spine of steel. When they get into the bathroom El pauses for a moment and waits as Max lights her cigarette. She waits for Max to calm down, relaxing against the wall as she eyes the red splotches on Max's cheeks receding. El watches as she puts the cigarette out and drowns it in water before flushing it down the toilet. As the noise erupts in the bathroom, Max stalks forward and places her hands around El's head. She's boxing her in but there is no other place Eleven would rather be.

Max meets her eyes, blue boring into brown with a desperate intensity. Max leans forward, patient like always. Eleven nods, just a little bit. A curl of brown hair slides across her forehead and Max crushes her lips on El's. It is desperate, passionate. It's fierce, as if two titans are clashing. It is a storm, lightning fizzling in the air and thunder washing every other sound out. They bleed together, hands hot and clutching. Pulling closer, shirts fisted in hands.

They kiss for five minutes, mouths hot and fused together. When Max pulls away, El's lipstick is smeared. Max heaves a breath, going to the mirror and fixing her hair. She doesn't notice the different color of her lips. "Fix your lipstick." Max commands and begins to straighten her hair.

"Okay." Eleven nods, wiping off the remains and applying a fresh coat. "Pretty?" She asks Max when she's done.

Max smiles. It's her special, truly happy smile. It's rare to see but El's been seeing it more and more. "Pretty." Max promises and leads the way out of the bathroom.

*

"So." Max shifts awkwardly, hands jammed in her pockets. "You and Mike." Max is fifteen years old and she doesn't know yet that Eleven tastes like maple syrup and sometimes she tastes like someone else and that someone else is Mike Wheeler.

"Me and Mike." Eleven agrees, smiling. Max isn't sure if she's imagining the sadness in her smile or not.

"Cool." Max blinks, swallowing roughly. She hadn't been entirely sure what had been happening between them but it was something. Lingering stares, soft confessions, hands held far too long. It's all down the fucking drain now though because El has Mike goddamn Wheeler, Max thinks bitterly.

"Yeah." Eleven says. The silence stretches on longer than any of the ones before it. Max isn't used to it.

She never wants to be used to it.

*

"I love you." Eleven whispers against Max's lips. Max can feel El's tears on her own cheeks, and it tastes salty.

Max pulled away, blue eyes furious. "No you don't. Shut your fucking mouth, Hopper." Max snarls, a hateful flame in Max's eyes as she stormed out of the bathroom. She ends up in the boys' bathroom, her tongue in Lucas's mouth.

"What is this?" He asks, pulling away for a moment. His brown eyes are filled with concern.

"Shut up and kiss me, Stalker." Max teases, a smile quirking up her lips. They leave the bathroom hand in hand, a recently connected couple. Max doesn't understand the bitter pang in her bones or the way her heart aches at the sight of El. She ignores the brilliantly hot flare of grief when El flinches at the sight of their entwined hands and new declaration of togetherness.

*

Max doesn't really understand why her heart beats faster when she sees El. She doesn't understand why the girl with greased back hair and punk clothes makes her heart flutter but she knows it's wrong. Here is a list of all the things Max finds wrong with El when she writes it all down in the morning:

1\. Her eyeshadow is a mess

2\. Her name is weird

3\. She's with Mike

4\. She's a girl

5\. She's not with me

Max looks at this list for a long time before she sets it on fire. She cries as it burns.

*

"I love you." Max tells Eleven. They are fixing their make up in the mirror after their daily make out session..

"Sure you do." Eleven smiles patiently at her but she doesn't believe Max. That's pretty evident.

But Max does. Max loves Eleven a lot. She loves when El spends the night and Max wakes up to sleepy brown eyes or the sun streaming over her skin. She loves El's hair, the way it curls and how soft it is. She loves that El loves Eggos. Loves the way her eyes light up at the sight of the mediocre frozen breakfast food. She loves El's clothes and how she wears them unashamed that they aren't very stylish. She loves that El likes all the bright colors because it reminds her of the world. Max simply adores the way El religiously puts on vanilla perfume and the way she wears coconut scented shampoo and conditioner. She loves her make up experiments and her kisses and her hugs and when they hold hands.

Max just loves Eleven.

Max is in love with Eleven.

*

"So. You and Lucas." Eleven mimics Max, voice strange. It's thick, like she's trying not to cry. She raises an eyebrow when she notices Max's gaze linger on her far longer than it should considering she has a boyfriend.

"Yeah." Max snaps, clenching her hands into fists. She can feel her face turning as red as her hair. "So what?" She asks, blue eyes narrowed with fury.

Eleven shrugs, sniffling a little. "Nothing." She concedes, shrugging tiny shoulders.

They wait awkwardly to see if anyone is willing to speak but neither of them do. Eleven eventually gets up to leave and Max finds herself opening her mouth. "Nothing has to change." She pleads, her eyes wide and desperate. Tears begin building because she really likes Eleven. She really does and Max doesn't want to lose her.

Pity gleams bright in El's eyes. "It already has." She mumbles, a tear falling down her cheek. Hmm. Maybe it wasn't pity that Max was seeing.

Eleven leaves, gently shutting the door behind her. It's worse than if she slammed the door shut.

*

"I love you." Max begs, hands clasped around Eleven's.

"It doesn't matter." Eleven whimpers, pain flickering in her brown eyes.

"Yes it does." Max denies, pulling Eleven closer.

"Not to me." Eleven's voice is firm, but her voice cracks at the end. Her resolve is steel though and she leaves. She just walks out the door and leaves Max all alone in the dust.

Max breaks, her sobs loud in the quiet room. She knew this would only end badly.


End file.
